Started: ICW Mile 384 Calabash Creek 33°52.41′N 078°34.19′W

Anchored: ICW Mile 393 Schooner Creek 33°27.63′N 079°10.34′W

Log: 56.2 nm. Time 8¾ hr. Engine 8¾ hr.

Tonight is thunderstorms and more thunderstorms until around midnight. Sort-of glad to be hunkered down in a creek.

The day, was the pretty part of the upper Waccamaw river. The oxbows and cypress and jungle-like winding river. It's perhaps the prettiest part of the trip.

Mr. Lehman earned another gold star ✪ for flawless service. A while ago (Alligator River) I suspected something was wrong with the fuel system. I didn't want to blame the filters — they seemed good. I tried to blame the fuel lift pump. However, since changing the filter and bleeding the system in Wrightsville Beach, things have been so much better.

Schooner creek is not the best. But it is a creek, none the less.

Tomorrow will have big winds will be coming from the south west, straight up Winyah bay. Into our face.

Thursday, however, the wind will be from the north. Bringing arctic cold. Again. Perhaps -2°C as we try to exit the creek.

Which is better? Bashing into the wind tomorrow? Freezing on Thursday?

We're weighing the alternatives.

What's wrong with this creek? It's sheltered. It's pretty. But, it has two serious problems.

It's right narrow. Narrow enough that Red Ranger could have trouble turning around if the wind was wrong. Sphincter-clenching narrow.

And the entrance has a shoal. The guidebook suggests a way in — a route that read 12' on the guidebook author's depth meter. We didn't find that channel on the way in. We managed to crest the shoal because it was the absolute peak of high tide.

Having seen the entrance up close, we think we might know where the channel might be. But it's hard to use the keel to find the proper path.

The idea of getting out at the next high tide is daunting. Tomorrow's first high tide is 04:43; sunrise isn't until 07:00; nautical dawn is around 06:12. The second high tide is at 16:49; sunset is at 17:13; nautical dusk would be about 18:01.

If we can't get out early, we're stuck all day while the tide falls 2.5', then rises again. Sphincter-clenching shallow.

And did we mention thunderstorms? With tornado warnings? If we dragged, we'd immediately drag onto shore, possibly suffering damage from trees or stumps.

A boisterous night.

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